Boxer unhappy with highway trust fund bill due for Senate vote

WASHINGTON – If the Senate passes a House bill aimed at keeping the federal Highway Trust Fund solvent through May 2015 without making any changes, expect Sen. Barbara Boxer to vote no.

The California Democrat, who oversees transportation policy as chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is unhappy with the bill passed by the GOP-majority House and a similar proposal approved by the Democratic-majority Senate Finance Committee.

Both would transfer $11 billion from general revenue into the highway fund — set to expire on Sept. 30 as the fiscal year ends — to plug a gap created by dwindling federal fuel tax receipts.

The House bill would keep the fund solvent through May 2015. The Senate Finance Committee's proposal — developed by the chairman. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and the panel's ranking Republican, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch — didn't specify an end date, though it's also thought to extend the fund until May 31.

The proposals also differ on how to replenish the general revenue account over time. The House version, for instance, would tap into a surplus built up in a fund aimed at cleaning up leaking underground storage tanks. The Senate plan would close some tax loopholes.

The House passed its proposal July 15 on a bipartisan vote of 367-55. The White House endorsed the plan but faulted it for failing to include a permanent solution. The plan won the support of California Democrats including Rep. Sam Farr of Carmel and some Republicans.

The Senate is expected to take up the House bill this week instead of offering its own plan. But the Senate could vote to modify the House bill by including the Wyden-Hatch agreement or a proposal by Boxer and Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Delaware, to transfer $8 billion from general revenue into the highway fund, and provide an extension until around Christmas.

Boxer has rejected the House bill and the Wyden-Hatch plan, saying they would excuse the current Congress from finding a long-term solution for the highway program's perennial funding shortfalls and instead punt the matter to the next Congress. Political considerations are also at play. Many analysts believe Democrats could lose their Senate majority in the November mid-term elections.

Boxer's opposition to the House bill and the Senate deal also stem from the fact that the EPW panel, in a rare act of bipartisanship, unanimously approved a bill earlier this year setting transportation policy for the next six years. But that vision won't become reality unless Congress finds a long-term solution to the trust fund's perennial funding problems.

In a letter Monday to The (Palm Springs) Desert Sun, Boxer wrote that the six-year transportation bill "would fix America's crumbling roads and bridges, create millions of jobs, and boost our economy."

"Congress should pass legislation this year that provides long-term funding for our infrastructure," the Rancho Mirage resident wrote, "because prolonging the uncertainty into another construction season hurts thousands of businesses and millions of workers."

The highway fund helps states pay for road, bridge and transit projects. Virtually every transportation project in California receives some level of federal support through the fund. In recent years, the state has received from $3 billion to slightly more than $4 billion a year from the account.

The trust fund will start running out of money Aug. 1 unless Congress provides a cash infusion. The fund, which has been extended 11 times in the past five years, is short on cash because people drive less and automobiles have become more fuel-efficient. Advocates say increasing the federal gas tax is way overdue. The tax has remained at 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993 and repeated attempts to increase it over the years have failed.

States set their gas taxes at much higher rates than Uncle Sam. California's fuel tax is 39.5 cents a gallon.